The Mysterious Play: Legend of the Moon and Sun
by Scandalous Behavior
Summary: The prologue starts to why the Moon and Sun are important with not giving too much away....PG-13 for now until later
1. Before The Book Was Re-Opened

The Mysterious Play: Legend of the Moon and Sun   
Prologue: Before the Book was Re-Opened  
  
Written by: Scandalous Behavior  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Before the Legend of the Two Priestesses from a different world came to pass for the remaining countries of Konan and Kutou another legend started with the birth of infants from two old countries. Born on the same day at the same time but were to be each other's worst enemy.   
  
In the land of Hokkan, that lived the god of Genbu, a small cry arose from the palace hallway in the royal wing. No one could mistake the cry as anything else but a baby's newborn cry of life. Shouting of celebration came then as the heir to the throne of Hokkan was born, his name would be Yosuke, which meant 'support of the sun'. The birth was so hard on the Queen, that her life force gave out so while the land celebrated the King wept as his son was born but he had lost his wife all in the same instant.  
  
To the west was the country of Sailo, protected by the god Byakko and in the bedchamber of the Queen Mayumi also rose an infant's sounding cry of being born. In the gold and white room were three other people besides the Queen and infant. The King had demanded to be allowed in the room when his second son was born and beside the king was the first-born son, Satoru. His violet-gray eyes taking everything in as only a two year old could. The nursemaid, pushing aside the straying gray hair that escaped her bun, wrapped the infant in a silk blanket and handed the crying child to the sweat covered Majesty. The Queen held the child to her breast and then noticed the features of the child and then astonished looked to her husband.  
  
"It's a girl." The Queen spoke, her voice low and the King's violet eyes looked to the infant in amazement.  
  
"A daughter, but how can that be?" the King of Sailo asked, his eyes looking to the symbol of the god Byakko on the walls on the bedchamber the gold eyes of the White Tiger only stared back at him.  
  
"She is the prophecy!" the nursemaid's shocked voice rose in the room and she quickly ran to tell the rest of the palace.  
  
Interested in why a girl would cause such a stir, the young heir to the throne moved to next to his mother and pulled the blanket to see the baby girl open her eyes, clear violet-gray peered back at the boy. Mayumi saw the expression of kindness and protectiveness in the face of her son at his first glance at his baby sister.  
  
"What is her name, Mother?" he asked, trying to sound all the grown-up prince that he would someday be.  
Mayumi glanced to her husband, who tearing his eyes away from his family mumbled the girl's name as it was in the prophecy.  
  
"Kamaria."  
  
"Oh," Satoru saw the sad expression in her mom's face and wondered why that was.  
  
The doors that still stood wide open from the nursemaid's disappearance let the bright sunshine in from the courtyard and a shadow entered the room.  
  
"So, the prophecy has come true," the chilly voice of the King Zhuang's brother, Dinh, came, "the girl has been born. News from Hokkan is the birth of the heir, Yosuke."  
  
The king only kept his eyes trained on the wall as if to ask the great god for answers to why the prophecy was coming true now.  
  
"We can not let it happen," maternal instinct entered Mayumi's voice, "My daughter will never have to go through that horrible prophecy."  
  
Dinh only sneered at the great young beauty lying in the bed, with the aftermath of childbirth on her face, which did not take away from the beauty of her raven-blue hair that laid around her like a shroud. To think that she had chosen his brother over him opened all the old wounds. Turning his head to the side, taking note of the weariness in his brother's stance and the questioning look in his nephew's eyes he locked his eyes with Mayumi's.  
  
"You might have a hard time keeping it from happening, Mayumi. Everyone knows about the girl's birth and since she is the only female born to our family in over ninety years it can only be the prophecy," Dinh looked almost smug, "besides even if she dies, you'll still have Satoru to have the throne."  
  
"Dinh!" the King's voice was harsh and scolding, "how dare you say such things or think them. Were you not my brother I would strike you down for that."  
  
Mayumi only looked on helplessly at the two brothers and then to her son and daughter.  
  
"Speak no more nonsense right now," Mayumi commanded, "it is the birth of our daughter, Kamaria and I want to have it rejoiced not turned into a battle between you two."  
  
Dinh bowed as if to apologize to Mayumi and then walked out of the room. The king came to his wife's bedside and touched the forehead of their daughter, then with a sigh he looked to his young son.  
  
"You must protect your sister, Satoru," the King instructed, "you are the only one that can."  
Mayumi held her husband's hand as Satoru nodded.  
  
"I promise, Father."  
  
With that the royal family could only hope and pray that the prophecy would not come to pass.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
It was two years later before the starting of the prophecy began with the king of Hokkan demanding that Sailo bring the Princess Kamaria to Hokkan to his son, Prince Yosuke. Mayumi was afraid of this and sat in the solar room, made entirely of glass praying on her knees to the god Byakko for a reason for all of this and a strange gold light filled the room. Mayumi felt warm all over, opening her eyes she stared into those golden ones of the great White Tiger God.  
  
"If you wish to save the Princess you must take her away, back to the land of which you came."  
  
Amazement showed on the young Queen's face.  
  
"I can not. When I came here I swore I would never return to my world. How can I? The scroll will not let me return and without it I can not go back."  
  
The White Tiger stared at her and his eyes seemed to see into her soul.  
  
"You are all that is good, Mayumi. You did not mean to harm or hurt either of the Princes of Hokkan when you came here, falling in love with Zhuang who would never love another which was why it was allowed for you to stay here in this world as Dinh will not have the heir this land needs. For the good of the future of this land you must return to the land of which you came, taking the girl child with you. For it is written in the stars that in order for any of you to survive you must leave your son and husband behind, never to see them again."  
  
"No!! I can not do that, I will not live without Zhuang and I will not leave my son!"  
  
The White Tiger's eyes drew in more light and a hidden fire burned in them lighting the room the colors of red and gold.  
  
"Do not question the will of the Stars!! Zhuang will die this very night and your son must live in a land south of here. It is preordained and you can not fight it."  
  
"Why are you telling me this?! That Zhuang will die, I can not bare it!!" Mayumi wept.  
  
The god faded out to the white sunlight of the day and she only put her hands to her face.  
  
"How can I? Leave this land I love and the people I love more than anything to a fate that I cannot stop. Why?" she sobbed into her hands.  
  
"Your majesty! Hokkan has raised an army at our gates demanding to be let to have Princess Kamaria." Came one of the handmaidens to the Queen.  
  
Standing up and wiping the tears from her eyes, Mayumi only nodded.  
  
"Tell the King that I will be with him." Her true meaning lost on the girl.  
  
Without another word, she walked out to the nursery where her two children played. Her young son, with her hair and his father's eyes only glanced up at her from playing with his sister.  
  
"Come, Satoru and bring Kamaria. We have to take a trip right now."  
  
"But Mother…."  
  
"Please do not question me, Satoru. Come now!"  
  
Sensing something that his mother was hiding but would not tell him four-year-old Satoru grabbed his two-year-old sister's hand and followed their mother.  
  
As Mayumi got them into one of the carriages, she only blew a kiss to her husband.  
  
"I will love you always, Zhuang. Please take care, my love."  
  
Closing the carriage and taking the three royals out the back of the palace, fate told the King inside that he would not live to see them again as if the Great God had whispered it to him.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
Making their way to the peaceful land of Konan to the South, it came to Mayumi's mind that her husband's half-brother by the dowager Queen lived in the village of Hakukou in Jusou-ken. As they came to the village and to the door of her husband's other brother, Mayumi climbed out and the door opened to the cottage where he lived.  
  
"Mayumi! What are you…."  
  
Seeing the tears in her eyes, and the sleeping Satoru in her arms she handed him to her brother-in-law's wife, who smiled sadly at her.  
  
"Please watch over my precious son, he will need your strength to go on and to not remember me nor his destiny as the Prince until the time comes," Mayumi felt Byakko's power go into her hand as she touched her lips to her son's forehead that caused a symbol to appear belonging to this land's own god, Suzaku, "live in peace my Tamahome."  
  
With that she got into the carriage where a sleepy Kamaria looked at her mother with innocent eyes.  
  
"Mama, where is brother?"  
  
Mayumi only smiled at her daughter, swallowing back tears.  
  
"He is visiting relatives, my daughter. You will see him again."  
  
Satisfied with the answer the trusting girl fell asleep against her mother. Mayumi felt the power of Byakko come around the two and they disappeared.  
  
~ ~ ~  
  
  
If you guys got confused about this, that's okay. It's a prologue so it's supposed to have holes. Feel free to tell me what you think. The next chapter will be up soon.  
  
~Scandal~  
October 2, 2001  
  
  
  



	2. In Miaka's World

AN: This story is taking place 2 years after Miaka comes out of the book, she is now 17 but in the book time it's been 4 years (cut me some slack since I had no idea how to calculate that time difference and it's too my purpose that it's 4 years). It will be a bit different hopefully than any other that you've read and will be my normal NC-17 later on. So read and enjoy!   
  
The Mysterious Play: Legend of the Moon and Sun   
Chapter 1   
  
Written by: Scandalous Behavior   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
The bedroom had never been a quiet place for the two years that the teenager had lived in the room that was her own. In the middle of the spacious room was a queen-sized bed with its occupant thrashing around on the bed, seeming to be unaware of the havoc she was causing the blue and white plaid comforter and blue flat sheets that were wrinkled and tossed every which way. The two pillows that should have her head resting on one or the other were on the right side of the bed, on the floor. The white wicker table beside the bed had a lamp and the clock with the reading 2:13 a.m. It was another night just like every other, starting out in the middle of the night with dreams that were so vivid and real that when the occupant of the bed woke up it felt like she had just gone to bed.   
  
For six months the dreams had gotten worse from the ones she had been having since she was five years old and still never remembered what she dreamt when she woke up. It was a nightly torment that had the youngest two members in the house worried for her, while the eldest had no idea anything strange was going on. Most of the time the eldest had been gone on some trip and the girl in the bed was forced to become the adult, which woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat or to a scream in her throat when she couldn't think why she was going to scream. As much as she tried to hide how very tired she was, the more certain people noticed. One of which had to hide his feelings for reasons even he didn't understand.   
  
To sense the build up of something, flickering eyelids opened to reveal brown eyes of another girl in the bedroom next door. Pushing her own blankets off of her, she set her feet on the white carpet floor and walked to her door, opening it and tip-toeing to the bedroom next to hers opening it to see the girl in the bed saying words that she couldn't understand and was sure that her cousin didn't know the language she was speaking. Calling out names that she had never heard her cousin talk about, worry entered her eyes.   
  
"I wish I knew what was going on with you, Kaori." Sachiko Yagami whispered to her cousin before stepping out of the room and back to her own. A decision to get to the bottom of it clearly on her face.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Kaori woke up as she always did in the morning with a headache and sleepiness in every limb of her body. Cursing the stupid dreams that kept her from the desperate need of sleep she had, her feet touched the floor and she patted to her bathroom.   
  
Dressed in the green school uniform, her hair in a tight bun at the back of her neck and thin glasses on her face she woke up the youngest member of the house, who rolled over. With an amused smile on her face, Kaori reached into the racecar-sheeted bed and yanked on a leg. A pair of tired blue-violet eyes glared up at her from the eight-year-old face of Akio Takashi.   
  
"Five more minutes, Kaori?" his tousled black head lifted and a yawn escaped his mouth.   
  
"Sorry, kiddo, but I got to get to school early this morning to work on the drama set and you have to take that spelling test."   
  
"Oh, man." came the reply she expected before she shut her baby brother's bedroom door and saw the raven curled head of Sachiko leaning over the bar area of the kitchen with a plate of something that resembled chocolate on it.   
  
"Sachiko!"   
  
Startled the girl turned with a piece of double-fudge half way to her mouth.   
  
"Geez, Kaori, don't sneak up on me like that."   
  
Kaori rolled her eyes at the always-sensual appearance of Sachiko, who prided herself on being perfectly proportioned and then to see her pigging out on chocolate.   
  
"Well, what do you expect me to do? Let it go to waste? You don't eat it and if Akio got his grubby hands on it the chocolate would be all over the place and the maid won't be here till tomorrow."   
  
Sachiko gave a pout and then stuck the entire thing in her mouth.   
  
"Since Grams....left us we have to be careful with things like food since we can't have the social worker coming and finding us shoveling junk food into our mouths." Kaori told the other girl, who pushed the plate away and eyes traveled to her elder cousin's face.   
  
"You know, Kaori honey, you really need to lighten up. The social worker is less worried about us than any one else ever has been. All they want to see is that we are taking care of ourselves and of Akio, who is the only pain of this whole new situation," at Kaori's glare over the top of her glasses, Sachiko sighed, "I love the kiddo too but you have to let it go, Kaori. You can't be your mom and our grandma for your brother. Until you turn eighteen you just need to be big sis to him and then you'll be legal guardian of him. Hell," Sachiko's eyes twinkled, "with all the money Grams left us I'd say I'm surprised would be protectors haven't been knocking down our door. You still have six months till your eighteen and I have eight."   
  
"And you read entirely too many romance novels to think that some guy would come to into our lives and willing to be guardian to a eight year old boy, a very melodramatic brunette and me."   
  
"That's not what I was thinking, doll." a wicked look came into the brunette's eyes, "and I resent being called melodramatic. I am just very animated."   
  
"What you two talking about?" Akio asked coming down the side stairs that connected directly to the kitchen.   
  
"Nothing. Ready to go?"   
  
Akio gave a pleading look to Sachiko to drive him, but she shrugged.   
  
"Can't be helped, Akio. I have to be in early today too."   
  
"Oh, yeah, forgot you're in the play, right?"   
  
"Right. So be good for Drill Sergeant over there and I'll see you after school."   
  
Kaori shook her head at her cousin's words before leading Akio to the door, picking up her bookbag and an extra bag for things for the play.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Sachiko peered out the window making sure that Kaori's old mustang convertible was pulling away from the exclusive penthouse building before snatching up the cordless phone in the massive white furnitured living room and dialed the number to a certain guy's cell phone. Tapping her cherry red nails on the 18th century Victorian coffee table, she waited for it to picked up.   
  
"Hello?" came the voice she knew all too well.   
  
"Good morning, handsome."   
  
She could almost hear his groan.   
  
"Morning, Sachiko."   
  
"Don't sound so happy to hear from me, gorgeous, I come baring words of concern."   
  
"If this is about your need to have a strong guy work on that car of yours.."   
  
Sachiko laughed, "No, no. Nothing like that. Actually it's about Kaori."   
  
A small period of silence came from his end. An inner smirk came to her ruby-red lipsticked lips and she knew she had his attention. Talk about being able to read people, she thought smugly.   
  
"You still there, Taka?"   
  
"Still here."   
  
"Let's just say that she's not getting any better and I need someone to find out why. Besides her being over protective, which is almost her normal thing."   
  
"Why me?" his voice was soft and Sachiko would swear she could hear his own concern.   
  
"Cause you got a connection to reach that girl that even I, her own cousin, don't seem to have. Just do it soon, okay? The girl is turning into a walking zombie, mumbling weird things in her dreams and such," Sachiko paused, "and if you want get that little redhead to help you. Nothing like using a bulldozer to knock down a brick wall. See you."   
  
Pressing the clear button with 'End' on it, she placed it back in its cradle holder and grinned to herself.   
  
"Damn if I'm not jealous of Kaori, having that hunk worry after her," Sachiko grabbed her leopard fur lined collared black jacket, "can't wait to see what happens."   
  
And with that she grabbed her car keys to her Jaguar and headed downstairs to the parking lot.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
The guy known in this world as Taka hung up his portable cell phone and stared at it as he set it on the kitchen table he had been sitting at in his small, comfortable apartment all of two blocks from Famille Kishiwa, the apartment complex where his girlfriend lived with her mother and brother. His eyes were looking at the gray metal phone but no really seeing it. Rethinking over why that irritating brunette seemed to think that he was involved in her straight-laced cousin's life. He wasn't really. Not in the way he was in Miaka Yuuki's life.   
  
Honestly he had only met the brunette and her very anti-social cousin a year ago, when Sachiko had introduced the blond to Miaka and Yui Hongo, who at the time had some of the same classes as Sachiko. It was before school had begun, and as usual for the past two years he had walked Miaka to school. Something strange hit him when he saw the blond. Her hair was different, not that blond was all the unusual, but it was like white mixed with gold pulled back into a severe bun at the base of her neck with thin silver framed glasses that hid her grayish colored eyes. Kaori Yagami Takashi she was introduced as, the oldest of the billionairess Emiko Yagami's grandchildren. Sachiko had explained that Kaori and her younger brother, Akio, were now living in the penthouse apartments in the Upper Class area with her and their grandmother. Kaori hadn't seemed all the interested in meeting them, at first. Miaka seemed to sense something about her and became instant friends with the distant blond, while Yui was still wary of the girl that seemed to have everything but acted like she had nothing. The differences in the cousins were staggering. Sachiko was the first to admit how wealthy the family was and how big her trust fund account amounted to, always in the spotlight and blunt to the point of being rude most times. Kaori was older, which didn't surprise anyone only that the way Sachiko dressed and was about three inches taller than the petite blond made people wonder at first, and was involved in things that took up a lot of her time.   
  
Even with Miaka, who as he had to admit was a bulldozer about certain things especially when it came to her friends, Kaori seemed to be in her own box that no one and nothing was allowed into without permission. Like she was protecting herself and everyone else from something. Then again she had lost her mother only months before she moved to Japan from New York. Though it was strange because the way Sachiko acted she'd fit right into being an American rather than her cousin.   
  
For some reason the last couple of months he had sensed something strange with Kaori. A problem he couldn't put his finger on and that was causing Miaka to worry. The few times he had actually talked to Kaori just the two of them, a feeling of comfort and protectiveness always came over him as it did around Miaka, that completely confused him. She was a stranger to him so why should he feel anything for the girl. He remembered once he had taken her hand in order to break whatever spell she had put herself in while standing in the middle of the empty school hallways and felt like he had been taken back in time and then thrown into this one. The connection was so intense that Kaori pulled away as if his touch burned her, the lost look on her face had been enough to get a certain short haired sandy blond by the name of Yui to accuse him of cheating on Miaka.   
  
If only it was that simple, he thought sliding the phone in the back pocket of his pants and grabbing his jean jacket to get ready to go by Miaka's. Snatching his apartment keys off the hook next to the door, he locked it after him and headed down the stairs to the first floor and out the double glass doors.   
  
What bugged him the most was that Sachiko seemed to know something that he didn't. That he would talk to Kaori, for all the good it would do, but that the brunette knew she could pull his strings was getting on his nerves. Always dreading her phone calls, that happened at all times of day and then to get one that was completely for her cousin made him rethink that Sachiko might not be as shallow as he once thought. Until she went and reversed that again.   
  
Passing by the gates that led into Miaka's apartment complex, he was prepared for the running tackle hug that his head shorter girlfriend always felt the need to give him whenever she saw him. Not that he minded in the least, it was just another show of affection and he did love her afterall. Bending to touch his lips ever so gently over her soft pink ones, she sighed into his mouth her arms locked around his neck until she decided to let go.   
  
"Morning, Taka." Miaka's sweet voice announced, pulling her arms down from his neck only to lock them on his left arm.   
  
"Good morning, Miaka. Ready to head to another fun filled day of high school?" he teased as she gave a sour look at the idea of school being fun.   
  
"School isn't fun, Taka, how many times do I have to tell you that?" Miaka commented, walking with him down the sidewalk in the direction of the high school.   
  
"I like school."   
  
Glaring up at him she said, "You would. You and Yui have to be the only two people in the world that think school is a good idea. It's so boring!"   
  
"Just one more year after this one."   
  
"Do you have to keep reminding me?" Miaka groaned.   
  
Coming to the school grounds of Yatsubadsi High School, Miaka's curious green eyes took everything in as the banners for the new school play was being put up in front of the double door walk way into the school. Then with a smile on her face, she saw Sachiko Yagami in her classic outfit of manipulating the school dress code by adding every single drop of red and black she could to the green and white uniform. A wave from her manicured hands at Miaka and Taka, that Miaka looked up to see the distress in her boyfriend's face.   
  
"Oh, come on, Taka, Sachiko isn't that bad. Just fun."   
  
"Fun is not the word I would use for her." He mumbled before his girlfriend pulled on his arm over to the grassy area of the front lawn where Sachiko stood, hands on hips directing the two pathetic boys infatuated with her on ladders hanging the banner.   
  
"Miaka, Taka, isn't it a great morning? I was just explaining to Principal Juno that the play tonight is going to be a big hit, that you two are coming to." Sachiko stated, giving them no room to refuse that they were coming or not.   
  
"Still telling people what to do, Sachiko? What if someone doesn't want to see you on stage again?" Yui Hongo asked, the sandy-haired blond with critical blue eyes observing the shoulder-length raven curls haired girl.   
  
"Was I talking to you, Hongo? No? I didn't think so," Sachiko turned her brown eyes back onto to ponytailed turquoise haired hunk and his pretty redhead girlfriend, "as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted that you two are coming to the play which my cousin will be helping with."   
  
Yui's eyes narrowed at the girl that she hadn't gotten along with from day one and that she didn't like. The feelings were completely mutual as Sachiko thought Yui as a backstabbing troublemaker.   
  
"No! The banner goes to the left so that the picture of me is clearly seen from the road!" Sachiko yelled all of a sudden seeing that the tree right next to the stairs was blocking the side of the banner with her clearly displayed on it at the two boys.   
  
"Sachiko," came the calm voice of Kaori coming down the stairs, "I am sure that the world will not end from people not being able to see your picture. Now would you please do as I asked earlier and get fitted for your costume so Uta doesn't have to stand in place like a statue and block the stage crew just to wait on you."   
  
"Alright," Sachiko replied, "but make sure those two blundering fools put the banner where it goes. Am I not the star?"   
  
Tossing her curls she headed up the stairs passing her cousin, who only shook her head and looked apologetic to Miaka, Taka, and Yui.   
  
"I am sorry," Kaori sighed as Miaka genuinely smiled, "the day of the play always puts Sachiko into a holier-than-thou attitude. You really don't have to come if you don't want to."   
  
"Don't worry, Kaori. We'll be there, I can't wait to see your dress designs and the stage. The craft department has been talking about it for days." Miaka praised.   
  
"Thanks, Miaka," Kaori smiled to an emotionless faced Yui and then to Taka, "I have to get back to the auditorium. I'll see you in class, Miaka, Yui."   
  
Realizing that he needed to talk to Kaori and that she'd be busy with the performance later, he called out to her as she moved to go up the stairs.   
  
"Kaori, can I talk to you for a minute?" his voice carried to her and a questionable look spread over her face, taking in Miaka's expression of interest and Yui's raise of an eyebrow.   
  
"Sure, I guess."   
  
Kissing Miaka on the mouth lightly he headed up the stairs with Kaori, leaving the girl standing there.   
  
"Well, isn't that interesting?" Yui commented watching the two disappear behind the doors.   
  
"What? Taka and Kaori are friends, Yui." Miaka told her.   
  
"Friends like you and her or more like got a crush on him friends?"   
  
"What are you saying? That Kaori likes Taka?"   
  
"Isn't it obvious?"   
  
Miaka only looked at her friend with a never-would-happen look.   
  
"Kaori doesn't like Taka like that."   
  
"What about Taka? Are you sure he doesn't have feelings for her, going after her like that?"   
  
Miaka just shook her head and walked up the stairs, wondering what Yui was trying to prove. Taka loved her, she loved him. They were destined to be together. She trusted Kaori so much it was strange, just as she trusted Taka. Something that she was still working on with Yui ever since coming back out of the Universe of the Four Gods. Taka loved her and that was all she needed to know.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Sachiko was in the red velvet dress of medieval design that had long V-shaped sleeves and a rounded neck, with a red tiara in her hair she could pass for ancient royalty. Satisfied with her reflection she turned from the full-length mirror in the dressing room to the mousy brown haired Uta, waiting on Sachiko's opinion.   
  
"It needs something, like a cape." Sachiko told the other girl, who nodded.   
  
Watching the doorway, Sachiko felt a smile lift her lips as Kaori walked by closely followed by Taka. Getting down off the foot stool, she put a finger to her lips and crept over to the doorway, peeking around the corner to see the two figures in the empty drama department hallway with only the light from the weak light bulbs and the natural light from the doors windows at each end of the long hall. Taka's voice was even and she knew he was taking her advice, which she wanted to be clued in on. Walking away from the doorway to the vent that was right above where they were talking about and climbing on one of the chairs, she motioned Uta to go away and lifted her head up to listen to the conversation she was dying to know about.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
"So what did you need to talk to me about that you couldn't say in front of Miaka?" Kaori asked, calmly staring at the guy leaning against the wall across the hall from her.   
  
Taka took in that Kaori was not going to be the easiest person to communicate with, then again he survived Tasuki and Hotohori.   
  
"Well, it's just that you haven't been acting yourself lately and I wanted to talk to you about it."   
  
Kaori got an amused smile on her face at his words that he glanced at her.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Nothing. Only you don't really seem the type to find this easy to do."   
  
"How'd you guess?" his voice filled with humor.   
  
"Look, Taka, I know that you are concerned and that's really nice that you are but I'm fine. I'm kinda of a big girl and I can take care of myself."   
  
At those words on the other side of the wall Sachiko almost burst out with a remark on how that was so not true but Taka did it for her.   
  
"Then why haven't you been sleeping?"   
  
Startled she turned her face from staring at him to the side, to down the hall.   
  
"I sleep."   
  
"Right. People that sleep have bags under their eyes and look like zombies."   
  
Her gray eyes narrowed at him over her glasses and he only met her eyes with his own gray-violet ones.   
  
"You might be Miaka's boyfriend, for which certain politeness is due, but I draw the line at you inviting your opinions into my life. You don't know anything about me, Taka, so don't pretend that you do."   
  
"That's because you won't let anyone, not even your own cousin, in. Whose fault is that, Kaori?"   
  
"Mine. I take full responsibility for my actions, Taka. Something that you should probably give a try sometimes."   
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" his voice flared with anger and he took two steps towards her.   
  
"You aren't exactly an open book, only Miaka knows how to read you. I don't see you with friends to confide in and giving information of yourself away freely. Maybe you should take a look in the mirror before you accuse people of things you are guilty of."   
  
"Forget it," he stood over her, "I told Sachiko I'd try to talk to you but I see this isn't going to go anywhere."   
  
"Sachiko?"   
  
Inside, Sachiko mumbled 'damn' and jumped off the chair, nearly falling due to the long skirt of the dress.   
  
"Your cousin is so worried about you she asked me to talk to you. I see that was a big mistake."   
  
Putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans he headed down the hall.   
  
"I'm sorry, Kichiku-chan." Kaori sadly replied, as he turned in mid-step.   
  
Before she knew what was happening his hands clamped on her shoulders and his eyes seemed to be searching for something.   
  
"What did you call me?" his voice barely above a whisper but demanding.   
  
A hand came up to her head and she closed her eyes.   
  
"So Kichiku, that is your name isn't it? From Hakukou? The Seishi Tamahome."   
  
Her voice was distant, as if coming from someone else startling him.   
  
"How?"   
  
"I don't know," she felt her head as if to get answers, "god, I wish it would stop."   
  
His hands dropped from her shoulders.   
  
"Stop what, Kaori? How do you know that is my name? How could you possibly...?"   
  
Sachiko came to cough and make her presence known at the doorway.   
  
"Cause, handsome, that's the name she yells in her sleep. In that strange accent, along with 'Suzaku no Miko' and a bunch of guy names then it changes and she says other things with 'no Miko' at the end. Like she gets possessed in her sleep."   
  
"How did you know that I went by that name at one time?"   
  
"I can't answer that. I don't know," Kaori looked at Sachiko, "just leave it alone."   
  
"Not until you tell me.." Taka had grabbed her hands to keep her from moving and the contact made them both sway on their feet.   
  
Images flashed in their heads of a beautiful woman with blue-black hair kissing them both and then at Tamahome's village where his father had taken the boy that he knew was himself from the woman. Images of before of the land and then of a small girl looking too much like Kaori and then people pointing and whispering about her, in strange clothes Kaori didn't recognize.   
The visions stopped and Sachiko ran over to keep Kaori on her feet. Taka pulled back and nearly collapsed to his knees.   
  
"Whoa, you guys sure know how to give out a power punch. Lots of white and red."   
  
Kaori seemed to be inhaling air, her glasses moved off her face into her palm and then she glanced over to a stunned Taka. His violet-gray eyes met the gray-violet ones of her own.   
  
The bell rang and Kaori shook off the images and thoughts.   
  
"I gotta get to class. Sachiko get changed."   
  
Ignoring Taka completely she ran down the hall only to hear his voice yell out to her and closing the entrance to the drama hallway she composed herself and walked to class.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Refusing to believe in anything such as magic or visions, Kaori went to get Akio from school and then home to pick up some things for the play along with a change of clothes in her bag for when she got back to school. Akio only stared at her like she had gone crazy running around doing a hundred little things.   
  
"Kaori, are you okay?" Akio finally asked having followed her into the closed off room of their mother.   
  
"Fine, Akio."   
  
"Why are you in Mom's room?"   
  
"Looking for something that Sachiko needs for the play, will you go get some food packed in my extra bag and get your overnight bag? I got permission from Mrs. Hayashi for you to spend the night with Yoshikazu."   
  
Akio's face lit up at being able to hang out with his best friend after Sachiko's play.   
  
"You rock, Kaori."   
  
Disappearing out of the room, she collapsed on her mother's bed.   
  
"At least someone thinks so. Me, I'm not so sure," catching the wooden chest that hid away many of her mother's prized possessions she climbed off the bed and onto the floor opening the chest to find the object she was looking for.   
  
Pulling it out it became a long dark blue to being almost black velvet cloak with a hood lined with sapphire silk. The chain that kept it was thin silver with the symbol of a tiger as the clasp. It was beautiful and Kaori knew it would be great with Sachiko's other dress for the play. As she set it on the bed a small object fell out of the cape and rolled on the bedspread. Putting the chest back in order, Kaori stood and saw the object out of the corner of her eye. Picking it up she saw it was a small silver ring, again with the tiger on it encrusted with diamonds, feeling as if it was beckoning her to it she slid it on her right hand ring finger. Taking the cloak she closed her mother's bedroom door and headed downstairs to put it in her bag.   
  
Once she and Akio got to the school she made sure he was occupied in the corner of the dressing room with one of his many hand held video games and headed to find Sachiko. Instead running right into Miaka and Taka, with Miaka's blond older brother Keisuke, Yui and Yui's boyfriend Tetsuya wearing his trademark sunglasses. Reacting instinctively Taka's hands came out to steady Kaori, who made a subtle movement to get out of his reach.   
  
"Better be careful, Kaori, or Taka will think my klutziness is wearing off on you." Miaka teased lightly.   
  
"Glad to see you made it. I would take you out to the seats but I need to get this to Sachiko."   
  
Moving away, avoiding eye contact a calculating look came onto Yui's features and she saw Taka glance at the moving away Kaori.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
While all the older kids were involved in either the play itself or in the crowd not a single one took notice of the strange figure that entered the room, which happened to be locked up so that Akio couldn't be lost in the big school. The figure moved so as not to be seen by the young boy, who unknown to the figure could sense the evil intentions and moved out of the way as the figure went to grab at him with a knife in his hand that cut the upper right arm of the boy. Staring at the black figure, Akio moved away with all the courage of his eight year old heart he stood up to the figure.   
  
"What do you want?!"   
  
"What a demanding little brat, just wait little boy, you'll find out soon enough."   
  
With that the figure enveloped Akio and the boy lost consciousness. The figure smiled darkly before disappearing and all that remained was a scroll with a small paper attached to it. Within the darkness, Akio used the last remaining thought on his mind to call out for the one person he loved above anyone else.   
  
"Kaori!"   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
The performance went without a single problem. Sachiko, as usual, gave a captivating performance as if she was born for each part she played and when she headed back to the dressing room with Kaori, who was carrying the two bags she had with her. As soon as Sachiko unlocked it, Kaori stopped her from entering it sensing something.   
  
"Akio?" Kaori asked, entering it and then in the back of her mind she heard him call her name and then nothing.   
  
"Akio! Akio?!" Kaori yelled and went to where she had left him finding the scroll with runes printed on it and a small paper with just a few symbols on it but what disturbed her was the two red splotches on the small paper.   
  
Somehow nothing that whatever did this was connected with Taka, she grabbed the papers in her empty hands since the bags were on her shoulders and went out of the room with only a lost Sachiko left to follow her.   
  
The doors to the drama department slammed opened and when Kaori caught sight of the guy she was looking for she headed straight to him and with a strength due to her worry and anger she forced him back into one of the trees in the darkened front lawn. A shriek came out of Miaka, Yui gasped in being startled and both the older guys just stared at the enraged blond.   
  
"What the hell did you do with Akio?!" she hissed at him.   
  
"Kaori, what the.....what do you mean what did I do with Akio?" Taka asked her, feeling the anger seeming to embody her entire presence.   
  
"I want to know what you've done with him. He was left in the dressing room, the door locked and all I found when I came back was this scroll that I know you know what it says and a note with HIS blood on it and I want to know what the hell you did with him!!!"   
  
"Kaori honey, maybe you should take a chill pill and back off of Blue Boy." Sachiko called coming to finally get close enough to talk, reminding herself what a bitch it was to run in high heels.   
  
"Scroll?" Miaka asked, having Kaori only glance at her friend before handing over the scroll to Miaka who moved closer to a now able to move Taka, as Kaori backed away," Ohmigod."   
  
Everyone looked at Miaka, who showed the scroll to Taka.   
  
"It's the Universe of the Four Gods." Miaka announced.   
  
Kaori glanced away and then looked at Taka, "It is Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho."   
  
"The Genbu and Byakko scroll?" Taka asked her, as Miaka was startled to hear those words from her friend.   
  
"Yes," Kaori answered, not knowing how she knew all this, "those bastards have my baby brother and what I want to know is why you know about it."   
  
"Whoa, calm down, Kaori." Yui said, "what makes you think we know anything about this 'Universe of the Four Gods'?"   
  
"Don't play games with me, Seiryuu no Miko." Kaori's voice was angered and Yui took noticeable two steps back from being called that again.   
  
"What is going on out here, Miss Takashi?" came the voice of Principal Juno.   
  
Taking in a breath, Kaori glanced up at the man.   
  
"Nothing, sir. Everyone was just congratulating Sachiko on her performance."   
  
Seeming satisfied with the answer he moved to his car and Kaori looked back to Taka.   
  
"Listen to me, Tamahome, you either tell me what I want to know or I'm gonna take a page from Miaka and go into that damn scroll and get my brother back."   
  
"Kaori, hold on a minute you don't understand the power of that scroll..." Taka called as she grabbed it from him.   
  
"No, you don't understand. He's my brother. One of the remaining people in my family and I will not let him go because of some stupid scroll." Kaori's voice was filled with unshed tears and with a pain that came from the years of losing the people she loved, a white-silver light covered her entire person with her green uniform and the two bags and she disappeared.   
  
"Kaori!" Sachiko yelled.   
  
As the scroll dropped to the ground, Taka saw Miaka and Sachiko gather around it and Miaka opened it to find Kaori's name written in it. Sachiko turned to the group who had seemed more surprised at Kaori's anger than the disappearance of her.   
  
"Now, what the hell was that and what the hell is going on?" Sachiko demanded, leaving five people staring at her.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
So what do you think? I've only seen certain episodes, although I got what happens at the end off websites. I know I am making Yui into a bad person, but I've never liked the girl so what can I say? In the next chapter Kaori is now in the scroll with strange people and things are going to get even more interesting when she meets the Emperor of Konan. I promise more Miaka and Tamahome in the next chapter since they are major characters and I love them both. Let me know what you think.   
  
~Scandal~   
October 14, 2001 


	3. Back Into The Book

The Mysterious Play: Legend of the Moon and Sun   
Chapter 2: Back Into The Book   
  
Written By: Scandalous Behavior   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
The standing and waiting for someone to explain just what was going on was really starting to take a toll on Sachiko Yagami's sanity. After seeing her cousin disappear into that weird scroll and her demanding to know what was going on the group split up so that Keisuke and Tetsuya could make excuses to Miaka's mom and to Yui's parents that they would be out a little later than anticipated. Not to mention the fact that Sachiko seriously doubted either of them wanted to be more involved than necessary in this situation.   
  
Taka Sukunami made it clear that he wasn't going to tell her anything until they got out of the schoolyard where anyone walking by could hear them, as Principal Juno had when Kaori had been interrogating Taka. Sachiko gave in for the moment, telling them that they might as well go back to her penthouse since it was the closest. Getting into Taka's car, she sat in the back next to the short haired blond Yui Hongo and stared out the window of the car as people walking passed by along with trees and houses. Wondering how you ever got back to normal after having your baby cousin kidnapped and your older cousin disappear into some ancient manuscript Sachiko hoped this didn't damage her mind permanently otherwise how was she ever going to get on stage again.   
  
Taka pulled into the parking garage under the penthouse and they went up, none of the three having been in the building were kinda blown away at the lobby luxury that Sachiko was used to and then to get in the elevator to the entire floor that belonged to the Yagami family. The floor was built into two stories and now seemed like an empty tomb without Kaori and Akio. Sachiko excused herself to get out of the costume into a short vinyl skirt, knee high black boots, and a mid-drift red top with V-neck and laid down collar, entering the living room again to the still school uniformed dressed Miaka and Yui, with Taka in a pair of faded jeans, blue t-shirt and black leather jacket.   
  
"Where is your grandmother, Sachiko, I'd think she'd want to know about Kaori and Akio?" Yui asked, as they sat in the white living room on the Victorian chairs.   
  
Sachiko shook her head, catching all three's eyes.   
  
"Our grandmother died almost a month ago from a heart attack, she won't be involving herself in this." Sachiko informed them.   
  
"I'm sorry," Miaka sincerely condoled, "but, Sachiko, how are the three of you living here by yourselves? Don't you have a guardian?"   
  
"The social worker is interacting with Grams's lawyers on what to do with us and is pushing back all the details for at least six months which would be Kaori's eighteenth birthday and allow for her to get legal custody of Akio, while I would just become ward of the county for two months and then on my own when I turn eighteen."   
  
Taka noticed that Sachiko said all of this like it was the whole plan but he wondered how it was going to affect things now that Kaori and Akio were missing. He now knew why Kaori was even more distant and why no one knew that Emiko Yagami had died, to give her and Sachiko time to get things settled.   
  
"Enough about this, are you gonna tell me where my cousins went or do I have to call someone?" Sachiko threatened, hands on her short black vinyl skirt clad hips.   
  
"We'll tell you," Miaka started, "but first you have to agree that this is not to be told to anyone and that it's all true whether you believe it or not."   
  
"After what I've seen I'm ready to hear anything." Sachiko told Miaka, the auburn 'odango atama' haired girl only gave a small smile before the distant Taka took over the conversation, a stoic expression on his face.   
  
"About two and a half years ago Miaka and Yui found a book, the title of 'Universe of the Four Gods' on the cover. It was a Chinese manuscript that told the story of a girl who gathered the seven Seishi of Suzaku. That by reading the book the story became true and at the end of it the person who was reading it would get the powers talked about in the book. Cause the book itself was an incantation and by reading it you were in reality becoming part of the spell. When they opened it Miaka and Yui were brought into the book, into the land of Konan, one of four kingdoms. That was when they met the first Seishi, the first warrior of Suzaku named Tamahome."   
  
"Wait, wait…isn't that the name that Kaori called you?" Sachiko interrupted with.   
  
Yui nodded since Taka was too involved into the explanation to stop.   
  
"After Miaka finished her mission, she was to come back to her own world. Here. And with some miracle I was reincarnated to protect her and love her even here."   
  
"Talk about true love," Sachiko mused, "and why is it again that Kaori called Yui that Priestess of Seiryuu?"   
  
"In the Legends there only girls from foreign lands can become the Priestesses of the four different lands. Two lands before Sailo and Hokkan had gotten their Priestesses seventy years ago this world's time. When Yui was pulled back into this world and then again in the book later she was made the second Priestess, the Priestess of Seiryuu in the land of Kutou. Kutou was going to go to war with Konan…"   
  
"Which meant that Miaka and Yui were enemies, right?" Sachiko asked, all the things starting to click in her mind.   
  
"Right," Taka didn't really need to go into how right that statement had been, "and so that explains it."   
  
"No it doesn't. You came out of that world, so why in hell does that world need my cousins in it? I mean according to you the book can only do that when it's being read and Kaori didn't even open the scroll or manuscript or whatever. And how is Akio involved in all of this? Why would they want those two?"   
  
Yui and Miaka looked to each other and then to Taka.   
  
"I don't know. When we crossed over to here it wasn't really certain if you could go back or anyone there could come here. That scroll isn't the same book that Miaka and Yui used, it is the original scroll that was before the book."   
  
"So there are two of them?"   
  
"I don't know how that is," Taka picked up the red and brown scroll with the symbols of the four gods embossed seals where it could be unrolled out and noticed that the note that was still with it as they had picked it up when Kaori had disappeared, and Miaka had opened the scroll and read Kaori's name imprinted in it.   
  
"This means that these scrolls or books are the opening portals to that other world, so I say that we go and get my cousins back. Now."   
  
Sachiko reached for the scroll only to have Taka glare at her and move it from her reach.   
  
"You have no idea what you are getting into by going into that scroll. It's not just that easy to do, you can't just go into the scroll expect that both of them will be right there for you to find and then come right back. Besides in the book 2 hours was three months in the book, so I would say since it's been an hour it's been a month and a half in the book. Who knows what kingdom they could be in and what exactly is going on?"   
  
"Then read the damn thing and make it take me to them."   
  
Miaka saw that the entire thing was getting to Sachiko, who looked on the edge of crying.   
  
"We can read where Kaori is, since I saw her name but not Akio's but even if we went into the book it wouldn't take us right to Kaori."   
  
"But Chichiri could." Taka thought out loud, making Miaka blink.   
  
"Go to Mt. Taikyoku?"   
  
"Sounds like a plan to me. What's a Chichiri and where is Mt. Taikyoku?" Sachiko asked.   
  
Yui only watched the first smile to cross Taka's lips settle there. What she wanted to know was how Kaori seemed to know so much about the scroll without really knowing anything about it and why did it take the boy, since it seemed someone from that world had come into this world and taken the boy. These things weren't addressed and for a reason she thought because no one wanted to talk about them. Miaka was still handling that Kaori knew about her and Tamahome. As it became settled that they would go into the book but straight to the abode of Taiitsukun, an old woman that had created the 'Universe of the Four Gods' they would pack things and meet back in half an hour. Sachiko watched Taka and Miaka leave and then stood by the door as Yui paused in the doorway.   
  
"What is it?" Sachiko's hostility clear in her voice, finding out more about Yui's true character from what Taka had not said rather than what he had.   
  
"Let's just say I hope we find your cousins fast."   
  
"Afraid your true character might come out again?"   
  
"You don't know what your talking about, Sachiko." Yui said and left.   
  
Sachiko just watched the blond. If what they all told her was true she was going to need a lot of courage to go through with going into a book that took you to a whole different world as she closed the door and headed up stairs to pack.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
In the book it had been almost three months since Kaori had entered and she had really no idea how she got into the problem she was in now. Her thoughts shifted in and out as she tried to stay conscience, even though the pain of her back was making her succumb to the blissful blackness that her mind beaconed her to.   
  
~While In The Book~   
  
Kaori sat in the small cottage, which was actually acting as an eating establishment. Wooden plank flooring, rough scarred wooden tables with splintered wood chairs, everything about the place spoke of no money but good food. Sitting in the corner, her mother's cloak wrapped around her, she kept her glasses covered eyes down as to not bring attention to herself.   
  
Having been here a week, she had learned quite a bit of this old Chinese replica world. Things that she knew she couldn't possibly know about. That you never made yourself stand out anymore than possible, which had been a hard lesson to learn on your first day here. When she had woken up in this strange land, she was instantly sought after two deprived men, who tore after her as she went into a dead run and as they cornered her she remembered her New York survival training and managed to get away, with the help of a young girl. The young girl, about the age of ten, had taken her aside when she entered the small village, having been in the woods and told her about some of the things that would make Kaori stand out less than others. The young girl pointed out that Kaori's blond hair, something that was an oddity in this world, along with the silver of the clasp of the cloak would make people think she had money. That the bags she carried would also make people wonder about her. Taking the advice to heart, if she was ever going to find Akio she needed to be invisible. Using black tape that Sachiko used for all kinds of things and always had with her, Kaori wrapped it around the silver of the cloak's clasp over the tiger and took out Sachiko's black scarf that was part of her costume for the play to put it on her head to help hide her blondness. The young girl's mother, a kind elderly woman, added that the bags Kaori carried would be just as bad as her hair to attracting attention and so Kaori dumped them out, taking what she thought she would need and apologized to Sachiko and Akio in her mind for leaving so much behind, but she was sure the mother and daughter would be thankful to have such oddities at least to sell. The mother gave her leather satchels that would hold what she had to have and brought around their only horse, a brown mare, to have Kaori use.   
  
At that she had protested, but the mother had held up her hand.   
  
"Do not apologize, young one. You will need it on your journey more than us and with all these new foreign objects we can get money enough to replace this horse." The woman smiled.   
  
Kaori thanked them both before setting off. It had been lucky that she met such kind people that would take her in like that. It kept people away from her, the only strange looks she got was due to if they saw her short school uniform skirt but while she was on the horse it never got more than a passing glance. Asking questions in Chinese even though her accent was off and some of the words were different from what she had been taught in school she only found bits and pieces about a young boy with a man coming through almost a month and a half ago.   
  
So now she sat in cottage, sipping on a thick liquid and then finishing the soup that she had ordered. Taking out a single silver coin, part of the money she had gotten from the mother and daughter, plus her having to sell Sachiko's favorite eye makeup. It was the weirdest thing to think what she had in abundance in her world this one had never seen and paid a lot for. Her thoughts were interrupted by a man walking in that could not be classified with the rest of the dirty men that entered here in the last hour she had been sitting.   
  
His entire appearance made him seem regal and of an entirely different class than those who frequented here. Not that it made him any more trustworthy, Kaori warned herself, having seen a lot in the past week. His clothes were clean, for one, with a white long sleeved shirt outlined at the cuff and collar in purple, a red tunic over it with a purple sash at his waist, white pants with shoes that had laces that laced up his leg to the knee. His hair was long, almost to his thighs of a black-gray color that had nothing to do with his age because as she observed his face he looked only to be in late teens, early twenties in age with hazel-gold eyes. It was strange that a guy could be said to be beautiful but here was living proof. A sword was tied to his side with the sash and he went to another darkened table, ordering from the keeper. Honestly, she didn't mean to stare but she felt she knew him when that was impossible.   
  
"Hey, girly, you gonna want anything else?" the harsh tone of one of the other keepers asked.   
  
Shaking her head slowly, then nodded to the silver coin on the table as he picked it up and bit into it, a practice she had seen more often than not. He smiled in satisfaction at finding that it was indeed real silver.   
  
"Do you happen to know the quickest route to Sailo?" she asked, meaning to be quiet but a loud bunch of men entered and she had to speak up. The name of the county caught the handsome man's ear but he made no movement as if he had heard her.   
  
"Sure, just follow the path your taking right now," the keeper looked at her delicate hand and she pulled back, as his interest in her mother's ring sprang into his eyes.   
  
"Thank you."   
  
Standing, she moved to the exit only to have a foot block her path and her eyes followed the foot to a scruffy man with dirt all over him as well as his four companions.   
  
"Well, what do we have here? A delicate flower?" he asked, leaning in his chair as one of the other men sitting opposite of him putting him behind her, pulled on the cloak and the hood dropped back to her scarf covered head.   
  
"Aren't you a pretty piece," the man with the leg in the way replied to seeing her face completely, "why don't you keep me and my friends here company?"   
  
Smiling sweetly, a trick she used in cases like these, she leaned forward and with a swift movement of her hand going into her cloak to the pocket in her skirt, she pulled out her Swiss Army knife and held it to his crotch.   
  
"How about I don't?" she made her point by pressuring the knife blade an inch more into his private area.   
  
At the other end of the cottage, the man saw that the girl didn't need his help. She was taking care of herself, which was a brave thing to do when it was five against one little girl.   
  
"Whoa, girl, we were only having fun." He protested, gulping at having his manhood threatened.   
  
"Fun for you, maybe not for me. Now move your foot or your going to be made to sit to pee the rest of your life."   
  
Slowly moving his leg down, she went out and unhitched her horse because she knew they would come out to defend their misplaced pride. Her foot in the stir up she threw her weight onto the horse, seeing shadows inside and then the man she had watched walked out.   
  
"Dangerous for one so young to be alone to defend herself." He commented, the sword being placed in the sheath.   
  
"Because I'm a girl?" she asked, as he petted down the majestic black Arabian horse that was obviously his.   
  
"For one point, the other being that you should not travel alone."   
  
"Whose says I'm alone?"   
  
Pulling himself into his own saddle, he bowed to her as if to apologize.   
  
"Forgive my assumption then."   
  
Kaori felt her lip lift in a smile, as she caught that he had to pronounce each word as if it was foreign to him.   
  
"I don't think you apologize that often."   
  
She trotted her horse onto the trail, as he followed her.   
  
"Why is that?"   
  
"Because you practically choked on the words," looking over her shoulder she noticed his sword, "did you kill them?"   
  
Surprised that she would ask, he replied, "No, I did not. Although for their dishonorable intentions towards your person I should have."   
  
A soft laugh came from her lips and he galloped his horse beside hers to find out what was so funny.   
  
"Dishonorable intentions? That's one I haven't heard before. What are you some sort of professional politically correct speaker?"   
  
His eyes had a confused glaze in them she sighed.   
  
"Never mind."   
  
"You are not from around here."   
  
"Gee, how'd you guess?"   
  
"You're speech as well as you ability to think you can take care of yourself without a man."   
  
Kaori stopped the horse in mid-step.   
  
"You know you were actually being the first guy to act at least semi-normal and then you go and make a comment like that," Kaori narrowed her eyes at him, "I can take care of myself."   
  
"And if those men had come after you?"   
  
"I would have rode off and lost them. I'm not an idiot I know what they wanted to do with me."   
  
"Then you are indeed foolish."   
  
Kaori was sick of this.   
  
"Can I know your name?" she asked.   
  
"Hotohori."   
  
"I'm Kaori, and I must say it was nice to meet you, Hotohori, but I've got a lot of road to go and this is where we part ways."   
  
Skeptical that she would make it by herself to Sailo, as he heard she was heading, he couldn't very well invite himself along, so he bowed.   
  
"Then, Kaori, I wish you luck on your journey."   
  
She nodded and watched him ride off. Thinking that at least someone listened to her, since Akio and Sachiko never did she continued down the path of the last known place she had heard that the man with her brother might be heading.   
  
~ ~   
  
Hotohori hadn't gotten far when he thought again about the girl he had left. Kaori, he thought, she reminded him of Miaka. Not in looks but in spirit. Although Miaka almost always had someone with her while this girl was decisively determined to be on her own. He wished her luck. In the back of his mind, a protest rose up that he couldn't just let her go off by herself but he was in no condition to help anyone, least of all a girl of her strength.   
  
Deep in his soul sadness stayed from the death of his precious wife, Houki, the year before. Watching the gentle spirit drift away from him due to an illness not made to be cured even by Mitsukake had taken a toll on the entire palace. Even his now four-year-old son Boushin had grieved deeply for his mother. Possibly it wouldn't have hurt so much if he hadn't loved her as he had. To think that he was so sure that Miaka, when she came to this world from her own, had been the one to end his loneliness when she had fallen in love with Tamahome he was sure he would never love another. Houki had been his peace, the other part of his soul and the mother to his heir. Every inch the perfect Empress that now it seemed quite impossible that he would ever love someone as much as he had his delicate wife.   
  
Nuriko and Chiriko had been the most concerned about his well fare at Houki's death. As Suzaku warriors the bond he had to them was second only to that of his immediate family. Chiriko was now a well-respected government official and one of his private advisors even if he was seventeen. Nuriko had taken on the job of being the one that looked after everyone. For that he was eternally grateful but had he stayed in that palace, to turn a corner and never see her smiling face at him again was more than he could bear. He had to leave, even for a short while. Having signed the agreement that he would marry again, for the sake of the county and his son's need of a mother, he didn't feel it right to do so. To him it was being unfaithful. His depression had caused many a worried glance towards him and his anger at the world that had taken her from him was taken out on more than a few. In his mind he was no longer the Emperor he once was, nor could he be again.   
  
Not a soul had managed to make him care about much in the last twelve months and then to come across that girl. Noticing her foreign clothing, the uniform so like that of Miaka's hidden behind a cloak, the elegant lines of her face and figure had gotten more than a passing interest out of him. Her startled violet-blue eyes that looked at him as though she knew things about him she couldn't know, for they had never met. Catching sight of blond hair beneath that black scarf had intrigued him, as never had he seen such a hair color other than the color belonging to the Seiryuu Warrior Nakago. It had taken a large amount of restraint as he rode next to her to keep his hands from wanting to run its fingers through the silky mass. That hadn't happened since Houki's death and he wasn't sure that he liked the sensation of being physically attracted to someone again.   
  
His mind on his thoughts, he finally realized it was getting dark and decided to make camp. One thing about having to have gone through the rising of Suzaku he was more self-sufficient than he used to be.   
  
~ ~   
  
Nuriko was pacing the corridor of the palace outside the young prince Boushin's quarters in Eiyou, the capital of Konan. His short purple-black hair blew in the breeze from the courtyard, his pinkish eyes snapping up from his face lower position as he paced when the sliding traditional doors of the boy's door opened and the pony tailed dark red-brown haired Chiriko stepped out, closing the door after him.   
  
"Well?" Nuriko demanded impatiently.   
  
A calm look came over the younger man's features.   
  
"He still wants to go look for His Highness. For a four-year-old he is remarkably stubborn."   
  
Nuriko huffed.   
  
"Must be all the time spent around His Majesty."   
  
Chiriko chuckled.   
  
"Oh, maybe around you, Nuriko."   
  
Glaring at the younger man, Nuriko leaned against the railing that lined the one side of the corridor.   
  
"So what should we do? Go look for him?"   
  
"If only to pacify Prince Boushin. Hotohori has been gone almost two weeks."   
  
Nuriko nodded, standing straight.   
  
"I will have all the preparations made for our departure tomorrow."   
  
"Nuriko, do you think that having him sign that contract between Konan and Hokkan was a good idea before he left?"   
  
"I didn't agree with it then and I don't now. His heart isn't in it and no woman is going to be comfortable with just half of him existing."   
  
"Think that Princess Makiko will love him as he needs?"   
  
"Who knows, Chiriko, who knows."   
  
~ ~   
  
In the land of Hokkan, a magnificent palace was active with activity as the people made ready for the Princess of Hokkan to make her trip to be engaged to the Emperor of Konan. Princess Makiko was walking down the marble and tapestry hung hallways to the room where her brother, the great golden Yosuke, King of Hokkan sat upon this throne with a very smug look in on his handsome face.   
  
"Why are you so happy, my brother?" Makiko asked with little real interest, more of a passing fancy of wonderment in her normal self-centered life.   
  
"Just the thought of how I pulled it off and news," Yosuke glanced to his vapid sister, "of the Moon Goddess being back in our world."   
  
Makiko lifted a delicate eyebrow.   
  
"I thought that girl died when she was two?"   
  
"A rumor made by the people of Sailo to protect her. Although I have my ways of finding the truth from rumors."   
  
"Has someone reported that they have seen her?"   
  
"One of the tavern keepers saw the ring on a strangely dressed girl's hand and he was very informative even though he died from his incorporation. Seems your future fiancée is playing protector of the girl."   
  
"He's what? What is with this Emperor and his need to socialize with those strange girls from that other world?"   
  
"All I want is that girl and you, dear sister, are going to help me." Yosuke voice was filled with malice.   
  
Interest peeked; Makiko asked him what she had to do.   
  
"Nothing for now. Only soon you will have a role in all my plans," Yosuke stood and moved down the three steps that lifted the throne above the even flooring, "I have details to work out. Enjoy your coming wedding, for when you are Empress, you will have all you've ever wanted."   
  
Walking past her, his golden shroud following him and Makiko saw out of the corner of her eye that her other brother; Junichi was standing off to the side and had heard everything.   
  
"Do you not have something to do, Juni?"   
  
The shy fifteen-year-old only moved back into the shadows and Makiko shivered, knowing that one-day her full brother was going to have his head cut off by their half-brother Yosuke. Junichi was a good-doer and she couldn't understand why. He was royalty, a Prince and yet he acted like a common servant. Disgusted she thought to her wedding and smiled.   
  
After leaving the throne room, Yosuke went to the private dungeons where his most prized prisoners were kept. The entire atmosphere was filled with despair and hopelessness that it cheered him up. The mold on the old gray stone walls, the sound of water under his feet at the underground river, and he moved to the iron bar cages that held his oldest and newest prizes.   
  
In one of the cages was a middle-aged man with sadness in his eyes and face, dressed in plain brown garments and in the second cage was a small boy with odd clothes on and a confused look on his face as to why he was being held. Smiling a horrible smile, Yosuke came to the middle between the two cages.   
  
"I see you and your new friend have gotten to know each other," as Yosuke saw that the man was sitting as close to the second cage as possible to console and give comfort to the young boy, "although he won't be here much longer, I have a different task for the boy. While you, old man, are going to die down here."   
  
"You are a cold-hearted bastard, Yosuke." came the superior voice of the man.   
  
"True, but it serves its purpose. So did this boy, who if I might say, looks a lot like you, don't you think? Then again I suppose sons look like their fathers," that got an amazed look on the boy's face that Yosuke couldn't help but continue, "that's right, that man is your father. The one that your dear mother told you had died and she truly thought he had. How sad," Yosuke's voice dripped with sarcasm, "and now that I have you, the bait, all will come together and I'll get what I so richly deserve. Because, young Prince, your sister is here to save you."   
  
"Kaori's here?" Akio asked.   
  
"Kaori? Is that her name, how interesting? Thanks for the information. I must go now, I leave you to your family reunion," with a look over his shoulder he added, "enjoy it while you can, Zhuang, because once I've killed your daughter and eldest son I will come for you and the boy. You'll be one big happy family, when you're all dead."   
  
The sound of retreating steps and the metal door closing left Akio to look at the man he had never seen and now was told was his father.   
  
"You're my father?"   
  
"Yes, my son. I never thought to see you, least of all." Zhuang smiled sadly.   
  
"But why? What is going on and why am I here?"   
  
"You are being used to get Kaori," Zhuang warmed at saying his daughter's name, "Yosuke wants your sister."   
  
"What for? Kaori isn't from here and she doesn't have anything that anyone would want, I mean she has grandma's money and me but that's it....oh, and Sachiko."   
  
"Sachiko? Is that your Uncle's daughter?"   
  
"Yeah. She's an actress, we were at her play when some guy grabbed me," Akio touched the shoulder that had been treated for the wound the man had given him.   
  
Zhuang thought on this.   
  
"Did Kaori put you in that room?"   
  
"Yeah, even locked the door. Didn't know how he got in and he had some strange rolled up paper with him."   
  
"A scroll," Zhuang cursed, "he left the scroll so that Kaori and your brother would come back."   
  
"And Kaori's here but I don't have a brother, just me and Kaori."   
  
This concerned Zhuang after knowing through information provided by the only trustworthy person of the royalty of Hokkan, Junichi, that his eldest son had been reincarnated in the world that his beloved wife had come from. How could he not have found the younger two? Zhuang wondered.   
  
"You have never met your brother?"   
  
"No, the closest guy to a brother we have is Taka, but he's all alone. He and Miaka are going to get married when she graduates, from what Kaori says."   
  
"Taka?" Zhuang pondered if this boy could be his son Satoru, "has Kaori contacted with anyone that she had some connection to?"   
  
"No. Kaori worries about Sachiko and me mostly. Then again," Akio shifted in his sitting position, "she's been having dreams."   
  
"What kind of dreams?"   
  
Akio shrugged, "Don't know. Sachiko watches over her but she is always so tired and never remembers what they are about. One night she was crying out in her sleep about people Sachiko and me have never heard about before. Mainly some guy named Tamahome."   
  
"Tamahome?" Zhuang said and then remembered that was the name of his son as the warrior for Suzaku, that his daughter was remembering her brother.   
  
"Yeah. So we are from here?"   
  
"Part of you is, my son."   
  
"Hey, Dad?"   
  
"Yes?"   
  
"I'm glad I got to meet you."   
  
Zhuang smiled.   
  
"Me, too."   
  
~ ~   
  
Three days from the cottage that she had met the stranger she realized she was going in circles. Cursing, she jumped down from the horse and searched the ground she was on for any clue that might tell her where she was going. After a half an hour she gave up.   
  
"Where's a gas station when you need to ask questions?" Kaori asked out loud to no one.   
  
The horse gave an exhaled breath and she smiled.   
  
"Some help you are."   
  
A sound pierced the birdcalls and sound of whistling wind that sounded remarkably like a child scream. Getting into the saddle she headed towards the sound to an open meadow where over ten men in dark clothing were attacking a well-decorated carriage. In royal purple and gold tones with the sound of the child scream coming from inside, she jumped off the horse, throwing her cloak onto the horse to get it out of her way and headed to the carriage while men around her fought. Blood sprayed the yellow and green ground, the horrific echo of bones breaking and the clash of swords played background to the screams. Yanking on the door, having a hand reach out to pull her down she kicked low in between the man's legs and sent him to the ground. Another twist on the door handle and it opened to reveal a small boy who was fighting, kicking and biting a man that was trying to take him out of the protective carriage. Using leverage from her entrance in the doorway she kicked the man out of the carriage, sending him sprawling on his back to the below hard dirt floor.   
  
"Are you okay?" she asked softly to the tear stained face of the golden-eyed boy.   
  
"Yes. Who are you?"   
  
"Boushin!" the voice of a recognized voice called out.   
  
"Come on, kiddo. Let's get you somewhere safe."   
  
As she picked him up, she moved quickly around the fighting of three men that seemed to belong with the boy. Taking cover near her horse, she held the boy until his cries stopped. As the fighting came to the end by the sharp pointed blade of Hotohori, he sheathed his sword, glared with murder in his eyes at the three men who were with the carriage and went to find his son.   
  
"Boushin!"   
  
The boy shifted his weight in her arms and she let go as he made a straight line to Hotohori, who bent down and lifted him into his strong parental arms.   
  
"Your Highness, we are so glad to have found you." Chiriko announced.   
  
"How's it going, Hotohori?" came an orange-red head's casual voice.   
  
"I know what you must be thinking, Your Majesty…" Nuriko started.   
  
Hotohori put his son down, his hand still holding onto Boushin's left one.   
  
"You have no idea what I am thinking, Nuriko," the angered Hotohori replied, "do you realize you put my only son's life in danger? That he could have died?"   
  
"But he didn't," came Kaori's realistic opinion as she set the cloak back on her shoulders coming around the horse, "and you should stop acting like the over-protective Papa Bear and just be thankful that he's fine."   
  
"Kaori, you have no business interfering in this."   
  
At the direct cut, she only glared at him.   
  
"Seeing as how I saved the boy, I think I do."   
  
"It is true, Father, the lady warrior did save me."   
  
That got all four males attention at the child's remark.   
  
"Gonna bite my head off some more?" Kaori asked, arms folded over her chest.   
  
Nuriko had been around the Emperor a long time and to this point had never seen him look so ashamed of himself as he did now when he looked at the cloak covered female.   
  
"Please forgive my words, I spoke too soon."   
  
"Two apologies," Kaori lightly teased, "at least this one sounds more sincere."   
  
Boushin curiously watched the lady interact with his father and thought she had to be the bravest lady he had ever seen. Not even the blood, that some of the servants couldn't stand being around, had not bothered her.   
  
"Lady Warrior, are you with my father?"   
  
Five identical incredibless looks appeared on the adults faces.   
  
Kneeling down to Boushin, she removed her cloak's hood and eye to eye with the young boy.   
  
"No, I am not. I ran into your father three days ago when he saved me from five very unpleasant men that would have hurt me otherwise. My name is Kaori, which you can call me if I can call you Boushin."   
  
Pleased at her response, the young miniature version of the handsome man nodded.   
  
"You may not call her Kaori," Hotohori corrected, "she is Lady Kaori, Boushin."   
  
Standing to face the stubborn male, she lifted an eyebrow.   
  
"As you wish, Your Worship." Kaori sarcastically mocked.   
  
Chiriko cleared his throat.   
  
Kaori took in the appearance of the other three men that were watching the conversation between herself and Hotohori with avid interest.   
  
"I suggest we make camp for the night," Hotohori told them, "and first thing in the morning we will return to the palace."   
  
They nodded, as the horses were unhitched from the carriage and taken down to the small stream to drink by a short violet-haired man. Kaori went to her horse, which she had decided to name Chestnut, and took down the satchels.   
  
As darkness hit, a roaring fire was in the middle of them as they sat around on blankets from the carriage. Kaori was carefully observing the differences between the men that were close to Hotohori. The first one was short violet-black hair with pinkish eyes in a blue long sleeved shirt with white panels on the side of the shirt with lining in gold along with the ties that kept the shirt together, with a orange sash at the waist and blue pants, the same type of shoes lacing up his leg to his knee. The second one looked around her age with red-brown hair in a green and blue robe outfit seeming very mature, compared to the others minus Hotohori. Then the orange-red haired guy with orange eyes in a dark blue shirt with light blue trim, the collar folded over also light blue with a white shirt underneath a leather belt at his waist with a gold buckle with a gold diagonal chain across his chest with dark pants, two beaded necklaces around his neck and dangling blue stones in his ears. Introduced to them as Nuriko, Chiriko, and Tasuki. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she already knew the names before they were said.   
  
All three were just as curious about her, as Chiriko took her glasses and looked into them, amazed that she would need them when obviously she had great eye sight. Taking them back, she placed them back on her nose.   
  
"It's more an appearance thing, I guess."   
  
"Appearance? But doesn't that make you more unattractive in your world?" Nuriko asked.   
  
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Kaori mused, "but it seems nothing I can do can take away from my features. It's a big hassle."   
  
That got Hotohori's attention as he wrapped a blanket around his sleeping son.   
  
"It is a hassle to you to appear beautiful?"   
  
Kaori shrugged, "I never really think about it. In my life, Sachiko, that's my cousin, is concerned about her appearance enough for the both of us."   
  
"So you would rather be seen as unattractive?"   
  
Taking off her glasses she drew her thumb over the frames.   
  
"No female wants to be seen as unattractive, Your Worship, it's just not always a blessing."   
  
Tasuki interfered at that point.   
  
"Believe me, I know. Females are always fussing about how they look, what people think of them, it's enough to make a guy sick."   
  
Laughing at that, Tasuki grinned at her.   
  
"Then you have people that see nothing but appearance and never past that. Beyond how they look, or how they see other people looks the farthest they go into that person's character."   
  
Chiriko nodded his agreement of her assessment.   
  
"You seem very wise on this."   
  
"Try living with a female actress and see if you don't learn a few pointers."   
  
Kaori excused herself to go wash at the stream, only to have Hotohori follow her. As she knelt beside the one-foot deep stream, the water clear that you could see the smooth bottom, he wondered out loud.   
  
"Why do you seem to be angered at me when you see me with my son?"   
  
Kaori turned from the stream, a little amazed that he had been watching her so closely that he had noticed.   
  
"I am not angered at you, Your Worship," Kaori wiped her face off on a small cloth that Chiriko had offered her before she headed in the woods to the stream, "I just think that you shouldn't be so hard on your son."   
  
"I do not need a young girl telling me how to raise my son."   
  
At his superior tone, she stood.   
  
"I am not telling you how to raise your son, but did you even see the pained look he got when you reprimanded him for agreeing to call me Kaori rather than Lady Kaori. All he wants is acceptance from you if you weren't so self involved maybe you would realize that."   
  
A deafening silence came as the moonlight shown down onto the running streambed and the soft grass and healthy trees. Sensing that he wasn't exactly happy with her words, she kept her mouth damned if she would apologize to the self-righteous male.   
  
"Do you have children, Kaori?" he finally spoke.   
  
"No, Your Worship, I don't. I have no children of my own; all I have is a young boy that depends on me and a cousin that is my responsibility. I know I couldn't possibly understand what makes you the way you are, just as you could not know about me but as a person without parents I can tell you that nothing is worse than making a child seem unworthy of your time and consideration."   
  
Hotohori stared at her and a little amazed at the strength of his glaze, she took a step back as if to avoid it. It was looking into her soul and it scared her.   
  
"Why are you looking at me like that?"   
  
"Because I have never known a person to have such conviction towards another person without truly knowing them. Yet you talk as if you have a clear understanding of me," his voice got a hint of anger in it, "and who are you to lecture me on being a good parent? You are nothing but a lost female without sense to know when she is in danger."   
  
"Oh, really?"   
  
With that she stepped next to him, her smile sweet and before he knew what was happening she pushed him backwards into the stream, causing the fabric of his attire to soak up the water and water splashed upwards for an instant as he settled into the stream's bank.   
  
"I can take care of myself, Your Worship, you are the one that needs to cool off that temper of yours. For a guy with such responsibility you have no clue how to deal with a female, obviously."   
  
His eyes narrowed at her and as she realized how close she was to the bank it was too late as his leg came out and caught the back of her knee sending her into the water face down. Rolling onto her back, she pushed herself up by her arms, seeing her glasses laying broken on the bottom of the bank and retaliation spoke out through her eyes as her hair was now wet and coming out of the bun.   
  
"I have a great deal of knowledge how to deal with undisciplined females."   
  
Angered, she took a hand of water and threw it at him, hitting him square in the face.   
  
"No female could ever want such a jerk like you, I have to wonder about the mother of your son…"   
  
In that instant, she was pinned by her arms to the bank of the stream, the water lapping at her soaked uniform as he laid over her the depth of his anguish showing through his golden eyes.   
  
"My wife is not to be spoken of, least of all by you."   
  
Blinking up at him, her gray-violet eyes questioned his. Knowing now that his wife was deceased by the way he showed his emotion, she glanced up at him.   
  
"If you loved her that much don't you think that running away from your son like you were doing is dishonoring her memory?"   
  
Shocked at her words, he stared down at her.   
  
"You were, weren't you? Running away from your pain, the loss. You can't wish it away, Hotohori. Your son needs you and you need to move on with your life."   
  
"How do you think to tell me that? I cannot do it. I have tried and I have failed her."   
  
"Then do us all a favor and crawl into the grave with her because you obviously aren't going to be use to anyone like you are now. You don't even to seem to care that your son needs you or that your friends are worried about you."   
  
She felt his grip on her wrists tighten before it loosened and he bent his head. His lips touching hers just enough to startle her, as the softness of the kiss made her eyes close and as his own hands moved from her wrists, she unwillingly wrapped her arms around his neck and he deepened the kiss. The truth of her words had to be stopped before he did something he regretted, he thought as his lips caressed hers lightly. One of his hands running in her flowing hair from the current of the water and as she gave a surprised whimper as his tongue came out to outline her pink lips and then dipped inside her sweet mouth that shocked them both as they pulled back instantly.   
  
Moving away from her, Hotohori sat on the bank.   
  
"I do not know what came over me."   
  
Still amazed at the feelings his lips had invoked, she just nodded before footsteps sounded and Nuriko appeared out of the shadowed trees.   
  
"You both decide to take a bath with your clothes on?" Nuriko teased.   
  
Kaori stood on feet that seemed unsteady and passed by them both, un-nerved. Getting to camp she got curious looks from Tasuki and Chiriko but only took one of the satchels and headed somewhere to change out of the drenched uniform. As Nuriko came back to the camp, without Hotohori, Tasuki raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Notice that Kaori was wet?" Tasuki asked.   
  
"So was the Emperor. Seems that he might be coming back to his old self."   
  
"He kissed her," Chiriko added, "Her lips were redder."   
  
All three looked at each other and sighed.   
  
The next morning, Kaori had changed into the outfit that was in Sachiko's bag, of a dark purple short-sleeved shirt with a lavender spaghetti tank top over it that showed off her mid-drift and too long jeans that were fine at the waist but a few inches longer in length due to Sachiko's taller height. Her hair was pulled into a French braid, still angered that her glasses were at a loss she had to make due. Having slept on the other side of the carriage she came around to almost come head on into Hotohori. He was in a red tunic now and neither one of them knew what to say. Boushin seemed to show up just in time to save them.   
  
"Good morning, Lady Kaori."   
  
"Morning, Boushin."   
  
"Father," the young prince asked, "is it alright if I give Lady Kaori a gift before we go back to the Palace?"   
  
"Yes, you may." Hotohori told his son before turning on his heel and heading to the three companions that were putting away last night's camping blankets.   
  
Boushin tugged on Kaori's jeans, so she knelt down and he took the small-jeweled dagger from his own sashed waist and handed it to her.   
  
"A better weapon than the one you have." He explained simply.   
  
Taking the dagger out of the sheath she saw it was hand crafted and the emblem of their god, Suzaku was engraved on it. Putting it back in the gold-jeweled sheath, she hugged the small boy to her, who wrapped his hands around her neck.   
  
"Thank you, Boushin. I will treasure it."   
  
Nuriko came around to see Kaori hugging the boy, the family heirloom dagger in her hands. He didn't say anything as he was sure Boushin was not going to accept it back if he told her what it was and it would hurt the young prince.   
  
"We must be on our way, Prince Boushin."   
  
Kaori backed out of the hug and stood, smiling at Nuriko. Boushin went to be put in the carriage by Chiriko when Nuriko saw the confused glaze come into Kaori's eyes as the Emperor passed by her line of sight.   
  
"She died a year ago and it has been hard on all of us, especially him and Boushin."   
  
"I found out last night. Don't worry, Nuriko, I have no intention on hurting your Emperor. I just want to find my brother."   
  
"If you ever need our help," Nuriko meaningfully stated, "you only have to send a message to the Palace and you will have help."   
  
"You are a great friend for him, you know that."   
  
Winking, he replied, "I try. Do us this favor, I mean if you do need us please seek our help."   
  
"I will, Nuriko, and thank you."   
  
"Not everyday you meet a girl that isn't afraid of the Emperor in this mood."   
  
Smiling she went around the side with him to say goodbye to Tasuki and Chiriko, and then nodded a goodbye to Hotohori.   
  
As they left, something in her heart protested.   
  
~ ~   
  
Not two months later she was coming back from the Sailo kingdom. People weren't in abundance and not once had she got any straight answers out of any of the residents. It was almost like they were scared to death to say something. One elderly woman had taken one look at her face and fainted.   
  
She knew she was being tailed, that someone was following her for the past three miles and her mind urged her to find a well crowded place when out of no where arrows were flying around her, something knocked her off Chestnut and in a mix of dark and light colors she landed on thick moss. Her body in pain, she caught sight of the person who had knocked her off her horse and saved her life. Beside her, breathing uneven was Tasuki.   
  
"Tasuki!" Kaori crept over to him, seeing an arrow piercing close to his heart, "you idiot why did you do that? You could have just yelled for me to get off."   
  
"Sorry, Kaori." His mumbled reply came.   
  
Seeing the attackers on horses in a mad gallop leaving the area, probably assuming they had gotten her, she put his arm around her neck and lifted him up, only to be pulled back to the ground by his weight.   
  
"You really are going to have to help me, Tasuki. I can't hold your weight all by myself."   
  
"Girls…..always complaining…"   
  
She smiled at his words and headed to Chestnut, not sure what she should do when she knew he needed a doctor right away. Making due with a blanket that she had been left to keep by an innkeeper, she tied it to branches in a makeshift rack to carry his body on. Carefully setting him on the rack, she debated on whether or not to pull the arrow out or leave it. Biting her lip in worry, he peeked through pained eyelids.   
  
"Leave it."   
  
Nodding, she got on her horse and then over her shoulder questioned him to keep him conscious.   
  
"How did you find me?"   
  
"You are back in Konan, Kaori."   
  
Cursing herself, she sighed.   
  
"How far from the Palace are we?"   
  
"Half a day."   
  
"Why did you protect me?"   
  
"Had to…..found out…..who you are."   
  
"What? Tasuki? Tasuki?" she saw that he had loss consciousness.   
  
Most likely from the pain, she thought and continued on root.   
  
~ ~   
  
The sun was setting when she saw the Konan capital. She took them down into the valley and towards the Palace gates; people stared but didn't offer to help. As she got to the guarded palace gates, she jumped down, the cloak floating around her and went to the guards.   
  
"I need help Tasuki is hurt." She explained, her movement caused one of the guards to see the dagger at her waist.   
  
"She has Prince Boushin's knife, she must have been one of the ones that attacked the carriage and she has tried to kill Master Tasuki."   
  
"No," she denied but it was too late, they were drawing their own conclusions and the gates opened to reveal a beautiful woman with three more guards.   
  
"Well, what do we have here?" the woman asked, "the thief of Prince Boushin's dagger and having brought the evidence of your assassination of Tasuki to us."   
  
"I didn't hurt Tasuki."   
  
Giving a small laugh that she didn't believe a word coming out of Kaori's mouth, the woman took Kaori's chin in her hand, as two guards held her arms.   
  
"I have plans for you, Kaori," the woman whispered into Kaori's ear.   
  
"Take her to the dungeon and make sure she pays for her betrayal." The woman said so that the guards now heard her.   
  
Kicking and hitting at them, Kaori could not get away and as Chiriko looked down to see Princess Makiko delight in Kaori's predicament he ran down the hall to get a message to the Emperor, because while he was gone no one had the power that Princess Makiko was using and not even with him being a Suzaku was able enough to get the guards to listen to him. First he had to get to Tasuki and then get a message to Nuriko and Hotohori, who were away with Prince Boushin surveying the Empire.   
  
~ ~   
  
In the dungeons, the guards delighted in taking Kaori to the darkest room and ripping the back of her shirt open as she hands were tied above her and as three of the guards, all with menacing glances on their faces, looked on the one behind her fingered a leather wipe lovingly. One of his fingers touched her smooth cream-colored skin and then marveled that he would have complete control on this girl's punishment.   
  
"We'll teach this foreign traitor to disrespect the Konan Royal Family."   
  
She felt the first snap of the leather hitting her back's skin and clenched her teeth, determined to not make a sound and give these cretins any more delight in her undeserved pain. After the tenth hit she couldn't keep the pain from her mind anymore and blissfully succumbed.   
  
~ ~   
  
The news got to Hotohori and Nuriko four days after Chiriko had sent it and as they made a mad dash back to the palace, they both prayed that she and Tasuki were all right.   
  
~ ~ ~ ~   
  
Well, that's all for right now. More details into why Tasuki came to Kaori's rescue and what is going on in the other world while all this is happening.   
  
~ Scandal ~   
November 7, 2001 


End file.
